Day 1-Gunsight Ridge-For a Shady Route, It Was Pretty Exposed

Prologue 

Makaela was working in Yakima. Her and Brad cooked up a genius plan where she would drive directly to The Dalles, and Brad would bring her gear, bike, and me from Olympia. We would go Friday afternoon. 

Brad, Lolo, and I left Oly around 2:00. We got caught in the slowdown in Woodland for about an hour (they are working on the bridge over the Lewis River). In the meantime, Makaela went to their favorite winery in Lyle to pick up some wine. We met up with Makaela at Doug’s Beach State Park just out of Lyle (likely used primarily by wind/kite surfers). Lolo got to run around for a bit. 

On the Columbia River. 

Makaela had made a reservation at Horsthief Lake Campground in Columbus Hills State Park (I camped there when I was on my way to Idaho for Idaho Hotsprings Mountain Bike Route back in 2015). We decided we would go set up camp, then go to dinner across the river in The Dalles. 

Day 1-The Dalles to Dufur-30 Miles, 3588 feet of elevation

As usual, I got up pretty early this morning (my bladder alarm clock doing it’s usual). I started packing, because, why not? Pretty soon Brad and Makaela were stirring. After I was ready to go, while waiting for them, I rode Billy down to the lake/river. 

The reflection was nice. 

I was playing with Lolo while they got things situated. The bike rack had to be moved to Makaela’s car, and her work stuff, and the wine had to be moved to Brad’s truck. Lolo likes to play a game where Makaela or Brad sneak up on her. 

Lolo knows full well that Makaela is behind the tree. 

Found you!

Once everything was packed up, we said goodbye to Brad and Lolo. He was heading home, and we headed to The Dalles, and the beginning of the Gunsight Ridge Bikepacking Route. 

The route guide said we could park at the Festival Park. We didn’t see any signs saying we couldn’t, so we parked and loaded our gear onto the bikes. 

Makaela getting ready. Billy is ready. 

Ready to roll!

We managed to get going right at 10:00 (had we gone with our original plan to drive to The Dalles this morning, I’m sure we wouldn’t have been leaving until noon or later. That’s why this plan was genius).

The route took us out of The Dalles the same way the Gorge Gravel Grinder went the year it was “the Gorge Mudslider”. Soon we were climbing the old Grade road. We continued climbing out of The Dalles, up past the hospital, and into the cherry orchards. It’s not cherry season anymore, but the trees were lush and green. 

As you can see, it was also a sunny (and getting warmer) day. Makaela, who is considerably faster than me, would wait for me to catch up at shady spots. It worked out great. 

We finished a rather long paved climb. 

Photo by Makaela (Mt. Adams in the distance)

Makaela is in the distance. 

Looking back from where we had come (and Mt. Adams again).

Mt. Hood peaking over the hills. 

Break in the shade. 

Now we had a bit of downhill gravel that connected us to another paved road. 

Billy and Mt. Hood at the end of the pavement. 

We were getting a bit peckish, but wanted to find a bit nicer spot for some food. As we came back onto the pavement, another big climb was going to be starting, so we pulled off into some shade, and ate these delicious mangoes that Makaela had picked up at the Farmer’s Market in Yakima. 

They satisfied our hunger for the moment, so we continued up the Pleasant Ridge Rd climb. It turned to gravel before long.

It was a long climb with an average of 6%. There were spots of shade, but in between, it was full sun, and toasty. 

Photo by Makaela. 

A little bit after the top, we stopped for a lunch break in some shade. There was a good breeze, so in the shade, it felt quite nice. 

After lunch, while we didn’t have any big climbs for awhile, it was definitely rolly. We were riding along when we came to this. 

It’s the turn for Japanese Hollow! This is where we turned (coming from the other direction) to go down Japanese Hollow two years ago when we did the Medium Grind of the Gorge Gravel Grinder. So, now we were on the same route, only going in the opposite direction. I remembered there was a significant climb that we would get to go down! Sure enough, we had a 6 mile descent down Pine Hollow Rd. It was awesome! It ate up a chunk of the last 10 miles pretty quickly. 

But then…because we were still on the route in reverse, that meant we had to go up Endersby Cut-off. Well, we also got to go down it on the other side. Let me tell you, it was a lot harder going up the backside on a fully loaded bike!

Still, we made it. 

The top. Now for the 11% grade down!

A couple more miles of climbing on the Hwy to Dufur, and we were finished with our day. I met up with Makaela at the grocery store. She had already purchased me an Orange Cream Olipop soda. It was delicious! After more fluids, and a bit of ice cream, we rolled on to the park where we are camped. The park manager actually gave us a hook-up site because it was supposed to rain, and they have shelters over the picnic tables. That was nice of her, and she also told us the showers at the pool were free (versus the quarter showers in the park restrooms). Unfortunately, the pool was closed, but we still got to use the free showers. 

Currently, I am sitting in my tent because just as we were finishing dinner, it started raining. Actually, it was a pretty massive thunderstorm. The rain seems to be tapering off, but there has just been some more thunder and lightning. The tent has done its job, and I am nice and dry. Thankfully, with the thunderstorm and rain, the temps dropped from 97 to much cooler. 

It was a successful first day of our 5 day adventure. Chances are, I won’t have service again until we return to The Dalles, so no more blog posts until then.